Synonyms of murky

murky

adjective

ˈmər-kē 

1

as in darkened

being without light or without much light

I didn't like walking around the murky campground without a flashlight

Synonyms & Similar Words

• darkened
• dark
• black
• obscured
• obscure
• dim
• gloomy
• somber
• dusky
• lightless
• darkish
• stygian
• darkling
• dusk
• unlit
• dimmed
• pitch-black
• tenebrous
• pitch-dark
• darksome
• pitchy
• caliginous
• rayless
• shadowy
• twilit
• misty
• shady
• crepuscular
• gray
• clouded
• cloudy
• moonless
• tenebrific
• starless
• lackluster
• foggy
• dulled
• pale
• dull
• smoggy
• leaden
• fuliginous
• soupy
• sunless
• befogged
• shadowlike
• beclouded

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• light
• bright
• brilliant
• luminous
• illuminated
• lucid
• shining
• sparkling
• lucent
• lit
• illumined
• brightened
• glaring
• resplendent
• radiant
• incandescent
• lightsome
• glowing
• effulgent
• beamy
• shiny
• lambent
• glossy
• lustrous
• alight
• beaming
• moonlit
• highlighted
• aglitter
• sunlit
• relucent
• agleam
• ultrabright
• moony
• spotlighted
• ablaze
• starlit
• floodlit

2

as in dark

causing or marked by an atmosphere lacking in cheer

the murky shadows of the cemetery

Synonyms & Similar Words

• dark
• bleak
• somber
• lonely
• depressive
• depressing
• desolate
• darkening
• solemn
• gray
• cold
• morbid
• blue
• lonesome
• black
• miserable
• gloomy
• cloudy
• dismal
• wretched
• dreary
• cheerless
• sullen
• depressed
• sad
• chill
• funereal
• lugubrious
• dire
• oppressive
• morose
• glum
• forlorn
• sepulchral
• saturnine
• elegiac
• disconsolate
• comfortless
• melancholy
• tenebrous
• drear
• godforsaken
• dreich
• unhappy
• desperate
• dim
• dull
• sunless
• plutonian
• grim
• Cimmerian
• hopeless
• negative
• mournful
• melancholic
• tenebrific
• woeful
• menacing
• woebegone
• low
• discouraging
• dismaying
• dejected
• distressful
• mirthless
• dispiriting
• upsetting
• distressing
• pessimistic
• despondent
• down
• disheartening
• droopy
• drab
• inconsolable
• discomfiting
• sorrowful
• lamentable
• colorless
• plaintive
• hangdog
• dour
• threatening
• lowering
• lowery

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• bright
• friendly
• cheerful
• cheery
• festive
• cordial
• gay
• comforting
• sunshiny
• joyous
• buoyant
• merry
• joyful
• jolly
• gay
• optimistic
• blithe
• mirthful
• hopeful
• encouraging
• heartwarming
• cheering
• blithesome
• jocund
• lighthearted
• lightsome

3

as in hazy

filled with or dimmed by fine particles (as of dust or water) in suspension

skies made murky from the smoke of forest fires that were many miles to the west

Synonyms & Similar Words

• hazy
• misty
• rainy
• clouded
• foggy
• thick
• cloudy
• muddy
• smoggy
• smoky
• milky
• soupy
• gauzy
• befogged
• turbid
• beclouded
• slimy
• overcast
• brumous
• mucky
• stormy
• slushy
• opaque
• dirty
• miasmic
• smudgy
• miasmatic
• sooty
• miasmal
• miry
• filmy

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• clear
• limpid
• cloudless
• bright
• clean
• unclouded
• pellucid
• sunny
• fair
• transparent
• translucent
• sunshiny
• clement

4

as in ambiguous

having an often intentionally veiled or uncertain meaning

a murky reply to a question about his intentions

Synonyms & Similar Words

• ambiguous
• cryptic
• dark
• obscure
• mysterious
• enigmatic
• unclear
• vague
• mystic
• opaque
• nebulous
• esoteric
• questionable
• inscrutable
• deep
• uncertain
• equivocal
• arcane
• occult
• confusing
• Delphic
• fuliginous
• hazy
• elliptical
• shadowy
• muddy
• obscurant
• complicated
• fuzzy
• indistinct
• eerie
• foggy
• weird
• misty
• clouded
• shrouded
• double-edged
• recondite
• abstruse
• cloudy
• uncanny
• difficult
• faint
• undefined
• dim
• cloaked
• complex
• shaded
• incomprehensible
• disguised
• inexplicable
• indirect
• undetermined
• perplexing
• indecipherable
• masked
• puzzling
• inexact
• indefinite
• indistinguishable
• concealed
• invisible
• baffling
• intangible
• impenetrable
• unknowable
• noncommittal
• obfuscatory
• bewildering
• unfathomable
• confounding
• mystifying
• unanswerable
• impalpable
• inexplicit
• befogged
• beclouded
• sphinxlike
• inappreciable
• shadowlike
• circuitous
• obtuse
• bedimmed
• roundabout
• obnubilated

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• clear
• obvious
• plain
• unambiguous
• accessible
• understandable
• distinct
• unequivocal
• certain
• bright
• evident
• comprehensible
• legible
• intelligible
• strong
• sure
• firm
• pellucid
• knowable
• defined
• direct
• nonambiguous
• straightforward
• fathomable
• explicit
• definite
• visible
• determined
• exact
• self-evident
• self-explanatory
• tangible
• appreciable
• palpable
• unmistakable
• blatant
• patent

5

as in vague

not seen or understood clearly

a gubernatorial candidate with a murky position on the hot-button issue of capital punishment

Synonyms & Similar Words

• vague
• hazy
• faint
• unclear
• shadowy
• dark
• pale
• indistinct
• nebulous
• fuzzy
• foggy
• opaque
• misty
• obscure
• blurry
• undefined
• dim
• undetermined
• indefinite
• indistinguishable
• bleary
• blear
• gauzy
• gloomy
• dusky
• mysterious
• invisible
• intangible
• puzzling
• incomprehensible
• inexplicable
• impalpable
• inappreciable
• indiscernible
• indecipherable
• obfuscatory
• hieroglyphic

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• clear
• definite
• obvious
• distinct
• bright
• evident
• plain
• certain
• pellucid
• strong
• sure
• firm

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of murky

While details remain murky, all sides have confirmed discussions are underway. — Willem Marx, NPR, 8 Nov. 2026

Six months after his murky inquiry into truth and persona on The Real Me, Future has brought along some pals to launch a new phase. — Jazz Monroe, Pitchfork, 6 Nov. 2026

But data on the most serious risks — overdose and death — are murky. — Theresa Gaffney, STAT, 6 Nov. 2026

But the distinction between physical and mental phenomena becomes murky in disembodied entities like language models. — Ben Brubaker, Quanta Magazine, 4 Nov. 2026